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Originally Posted by Charlatan
Most organized religions are run like a "business".
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I cannot say this is entire untrue, but I will defend the fact that some religions accept donations while others require it. The third pillar of Islam states that one must give alms, usually with money or possessions. A man I once knew a long time ago was of a small Protestant sect and was required to donate 10% of his income monthly. I remember him vividly because he had to sell his beautiful Mustang GT to meet this donation requirement, which I thought was a shame.
However, during my childhood as a Catholic I was never required to give anything. I did, but I was never required to.
Religions/cults/whatevers like Scientology require you to spend large sums of money in order to gain wisdom or rise within the church's hierarchy. Audit sessions in the church of scientology can cost $200 per session, and if patrons don't have that money, it isn't forgiven, but they are given loans they must pay back. It has ruin many lives and put many people bankrupt. It's plain wrong in my eyes as the wise would never charge to reveal their knowledge. Socrates never did it, Siddhartha Gautama never did it, never has a wise person throughout history ever required people to pay for knowledge.
We're infected with alien souls killed by the evil lord Xenu? Fine, believe what you want, but coercing people for their money is downright dirty.